Business of Loyalty: American Airlines Frequent Flyers Are in a Sour Mood

Elite members of AAdvantage, American's loyalty program, aren't happy. Over the last several months, influential bloggers from around the community have taken turns lambasting the program and decrying changes. Behind their complaints are a litany of issues common in today's changing airline-loyalty program landscape. American now calculates elite status by revenue and mileage rather than just mileage; award space is harder to find; upgrade privileges are diminishing, and service and catering are languishing. One could make the same complaints about any U.S. legacy carrier. But passengers at American seem to be particularly incensed, maybe because of the carrier's dramatic fall from the top or because it was the last carrier to get on the revenue train. Not long ago, American was w